Sweet Home Alabama

         

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         A few years ago, my sister was an exchange student in Alabama. We plan to visit her old host parents in the near future. She has told me a lot of good things about it. It will be fun to add another state to the list of states I have visited. We plan to go to Noccalula Falls Park. It is a 90-foot waterfall with trails winding through Black Creek Gorge. Apparently it also has an aboriginal fort, an abandoned dam, pioneer homestead, and Civil War carvings. It was listed in the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage. Kayaking there would be fun if that is offered. It would be also fun to go to Adventure Island which is an amusement park. It has go-karts, bumper boats, laser tag, & an erupting volcano display, lots of fun looking stuff! It would be cool to see how erupting volcano replica looks like.

I’ve always seen space rockets on television and in movies, but I never got a chance to see any in person. I’ve heard about the U.S Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. It would be cool to learn about space programs and how rockets work through the science exhibits which the center does. It has Space Shuttle and Army rocketry and aircraft too, lots of cool things to take pictures of.

Though our primary reason of travel is to visit my sister’s old host parents, hopefully we can get our time to go off and do these things. We also plan to eat local foods and experience what we can in our short time there. Alabama is a beautiful, and most importantly warm, state with a lot to offer. I know we will have a good trip!

Ride to the clouds..

 

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        Hot air balloon rides and attending the hot air balloon festivals is one of the things in my wishlist. I was so close to doing in this year but sadly, I missed it as I saw the timing wrong. I was it pm instead of am. I was hyped up for that day until I double checked the time as realized that I already missed it as it was the last day of the 3 day events also. But it is definitely something I would love to do. Being with the loved ones and enjoying the view and having good time.

     It would be beautiful to be up in the air and seeing things from above. I think the view of other hot air balloons up in the air along with your one during sunset or sunrise time is the most beautiful view and feeling that one can have. Although, it can be nerve wrecking too when the basket shakes in wind, knowing you are up so high and you can fall. I didn’t think about it before but now that I think of it . It makes sense that weather plays a big factor for such festival especially wind.

    This is definitely something I’m looking forward to doing so, although I’m scared of height but the beautiful of such experience motivates me to do so. I would encourage, you guys to do so and see if it’s something for you.

Perspective of flyers

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   People travel for so many reasons. Some people travel as their job requires it, some travel for luxury, some travel to explore, and some travel for vacation. But one thing I found common is that for everyone, the environment changes, the people change, as you travel from place to place, airport to airport. Some people like the thrill of change, some people are afraid of it. The unknown can be a scary thing, for sure!

For me, it feels like I am standing in one place and things around me are changing. Other times I feel like as if I’m walking from one room to another. Imagine, look at your bedroom and the furniture there are different than the ones in your living room. My experiences back home in Bangladesh is like my bedroom, and my experiences here are like my living room. I can picture them both individually, but few things overlap between the two and I can travel from one to the other. Maybe it doesn’t make so much sense, but it is how my brain makes sense of it.

      I love travel and I think it would be so nice to have a job that involved travel. However, I have heard that many people who travel so much for work barely get to enjoy the awesome places they visit. It would be such a shame having to take a taxi from work to the airport and see all the awesome sights and experiences that you will miss out on.

Good Times..

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   During my year as an exchange student in high school, I was lucky enough to go to San Diego, California for a conference. San Diego is a beautiful hilly area. I was surprised by seeing how tall the palm trees were. I loved the sunny weather there. People say it rains a lot in California but during my one week there, it didn’t really rain. I guess we were lucky.

   We also got to go on a dinner cruise. A dinner cruise is basically where you have dinner on a boat or small ship while it sails around the city. It was beautiful seeing the sunset. There was a DJ inside the boat too and he played all upbeat songs for us high school kids which I enjoyed. During that conference, I got to know all of the exchange students who are also international students from all around the world. It was pretty cool experience.

   Another time, we had all kinds of pizza for dinner using paper plates and shared our exchange year experiences at the tables around the pool. Some even relaxed in the pool while others enjoyed the jokes and silly experiences. After we finished eating food, we decided to clean up after ourselves and throw other paper plates that some other exchange students didn’t clean up after themselves. But we ended up making a mess anyway, as what we thought was a trash can was a container for pool towels. It was too late when we realized it. So, we went to our rooms before we get in trouble. Next day, we got to go to Sea World and see the shows and enjoy the rides.

 

As We Travel

 

 

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          A while back, I got to visit the state capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin. The interior of the building is just phenomenal. It is the tallest building in Madison. It’s hard to explain how big and beautiful it is. There is lots of restaurants and shops around it.

      We also got to visit Cave of the Mounds, a wonder far below our feet, located just outside of Madison. It is a natural landmark discovered during a quarry blast. It was completely hidden to the outside world until 1939 when the quarry blast happened. It is a really big cave jam-packed with interesting formations. It’s about 300 feet long, 30 foot ceiling, 30 feet wide.

        They give a tour around the cave and it’s pretty cool. I’ve never been to a cave before so it was pretty cool. Apparently, people get married there too. Caves change very slowly. It’s about 2 million years old. Above that cave, they have Nature Center, nature trails and biking trails too. Those of you who like to travel and enjoy nature. I would suggest to take a tour to Cave of the Mounds, you will really enjoy it.

 

Land of Magic

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Those of you who have been to Walt Disney in Florida or in Disney in general knows what that magic feels like that Disney always talks about. You probably heard this line so many times already by now that Disney is a place for everyone of all ages, but how many of you actually felt it. If you haven’t yet, I recommend that you go there. It is really beautiful, fun and, thrilling!

           During my year as an exchange student in high school, I was lucky enough to go to Walt Disney in Florida. That was one of the best and most magical experiences I ever had! There are all kinds of roller coasters and thrill rides. They have musical shows too, if you enjoy watching shows. My favorite ride was Soaring. It made me feeling like I have wings and I’m flying all over the place. It’s hard to explain how it feels but I would recommend people to try that one. They have fast-passes, which give you access to lines with less people. I think you can get one at a time. So, while you wait in line for a ride or enjoy one roller coaster, you can get a fast pass for another one.

              Every night they do fireworks and it’s the most beautiful and amazing thing I’ve ever seen! I was amazed by the fact that they do this every night in all their parks. The most beautiful ones that I got to enjoy was Epcot Globe and Cinderella Castle. It shows how technology is being used to a whole new level to create magic. We had 3 days there but still didn’t have enough time to enjoy all the rides in every park. Our flights got cancelled on the 4th day to go back to South Carolina from Florida and I’ve never been happy about flights getting cancelled until then as our tickets were for 4 days but our conference was for 3 days. Due to our flights cancelled, we got to enjoy another day in Disney! That’s one of the places that will stay very dear to me and I would recommend others to go at least once to feel the magic!